Team dynamics, PERILL, team resilience, co-coaching, teams of teams
Many teams and organizations operate on the boundary between complexity and chaos. Managing the dance between those states can be time consuming, yet without devoting sufficient time to manage this boundary, they default – consciously or unconsciously – to the habit of multiple quick fixes. The more quick fixes they apply, the greater the propensity...
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This fascinating question arose during a supervision group a few days ago. The stimulus was a cluster of cases, where, for one reason or another, the pause button had been pressed on the team coaching assignment. The coach(es) felt a variety of negative emotions about this, but particularly disappointment and frustration that the “good work”...
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Read More Are we being too rigid in how we structure team coaching?
Just as focusing on individual performance doesn’t necessarily lead to improved collective (team) performance, high performing teams don’t necessarily work together to deliver a high performing organization. In his book Team of Teams, retired US general Stanley McChrystal offers a number of examples of how functional silos within organisations or even within departments can undermine (more…)
There is a severe lack of both empirical research and theoretical models relating to the concept of teams of teams. Google Scholar lists just one publication – an autobiographical account of the concept at work in the theatre of war (McChrystal et al, 2015). So, it is hardly surprising that coaches struggle to know where...
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Teams are a special form of group, where shared purpose and interdependencies replace common purpose and individual activity. The distinction between a group and a team is often blurred. A group may exhibit some of the behaviours associated with teaming, but not all. Groups in the workplace often describe themselves as teams, because they feel...
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I’m hearing the word “coachability” a lot more recently in my supervision groups. For example, “I should have gone with my instinct and turned the client down – he’s not coachable.” There are two schools of thought around this. One is that no-one is uncoachable. The issue is whether this coach is the right coach...
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Human beings initiate change when they feel discomfort or dissatisfaction. So, in principle, a coaching or mentoring conversation that doesn’t involve some level of discomfort is likely to lead to less significant change than one that does. However, we also tend to avoid discomfort, especially if it is elevated to become pain. We also tend...
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One of the signs of a coaching culture in a team is when everyone is comfortable with being coached by everyone else. A tipping point in achieving a coaching culture is when the team leader is happy to be coached by direct reports. A five-stage approach can be helpful here: The team leader is coached...
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No, it’s not a typographical error – it’s the latest neologism from the Clutterbuck word factory! I talk a lot about stakeholders (people and entities affected by what we do) and influencers (people or entities that enable or constrain us in what we do). Mistakeholders are a special subgroup of stakeholders – people, who suffer...
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It’s a truism that change is often more noticeable from outside than from within. Team coaches often assume that, just because they can see significant improvements in team behaviours or functions, the team itself is equally aware. That’s often not the case. So, how do we make them more aware? Some of the simplest approaches...
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